William
Ward Orme
William
Ward Orme was born February 17, 1832 in Washington, D.C. William’s parents died when he was 13 years
old. He lived with a grandfather who
taught him to be a cabinetmaker. At age
17, William traveled to Chicago
where he worked as a bank messenger and studied law.
It has often been told that he arrived in Chicago with 25
cents in
his pocket, but while he may have been short of cash he was long on
ambition.
In 1850, William came to Bloomington.
After a short stint in private practice with a partner,
Orme became a
deputy clerk in the circuit clerk office of William McCullough. Here Orme would meet other men of the law who
were to become his friends, allies, and mentors.
In 1852 at age 20, Orme
passed the Bar, and in 1853 he married
Nannie McCullough, daughter of William McCullough.
Shortly thereafter he went into a successful
partnership with Leonard Swett, an established courtroom lawyer. Orme’s legal work was admired by Abraham
Lincoln, David Davis, and others who saw a bright future for him.
While Orme advised his
brother not to “bother” with
politics, he could not escape its appeal.
He attended the convention at Major’s Hall where the
Republican Party
was formed, and he was involved in the Lincoln
for President Club. When Lincoln was elected President in 1860, Orme did
not
hesitate to ask for political favors through letters and even a
personal visit
to Washington.
With the advent of the
Civil War, Orme was instrumental in
the formation of McLean
County’s 94th
Volunteer Infantry Regiment and was elected to be Colonel of the
Regiment. Two of his brothers also served
in the same regiment. In August 1862 the
Regiment left for active
duty in southern Missouri.
Whenever Orme was away
from his wife, he wrote lengthy
letters to her containing his thoughts, opinions, and daily activities. His descriptions of military life included
many of the same complaints of other soldiers:
boredom with inaction, tiresome marches, and camp
illnesses. Orme had been campaigning for a
promotion in
rank to General. Because of his youth
and inexperience, Lincoln’s
response to Orme’s lobbying was that Orme first needed to “distinguish
himself
in battle.” His opportunity came with
the Battle of Prairie Grove and, in spite of Lincoln’s reservations about his age,
he was
promoted to Brigadier-General.
In this same period, Orme
learned that his father-in-law
William McCullough had been killed in battle at Coffeyville, Mississippi. His brother Joseph was killed by friendly
fire a short time later. Both deaths
came as a severe shock.
Orme was suffering bouts
of illness, later identified as
tuberculosis. However, after a period at
home to take care of family affairs, he returned to duty and soon moved
with
his troops to Vicksburg,
Mississippi where he
participated in the
siege of that city. His letters home
were quite descriptive of the action and the aftermath.
Illness plagued Orme and
when he was no longer able to serve
in the field, he was assigned to take command of the prison Camp
Douglas at Chicago,
Illinois. The cold and damp weather of Chicago
aggravated his illness. Unable to
concentrate on his duties there, he
resigned from the Army and returned to Bloomington
to recuperate. In 1864, he was appointed
Supervising Special Agent of the Treasury Department at Memphis, Tennessee.
In 1865, shortly after Lincoln’s
assassination, Orme’s ill health again forced him to resign from his
duties. He died at home in Bloomington on
September
13, 1866.
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